Process of cracking oil



- April 1932. G. EGLOFF PROCESS OF CRACKING OIL Original Filed Dec. 51, 1920 v fi k/161 96 nae/i201", 2 /0 6 @MA/W W Patented Apr. 26, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GUSTAV EG-IOIE'F, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNIVERSAL OIL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA PROCESS OF CRACKING OIL Continuation of application Serial No. 434,189, filed December 31, 1920. This application filed November 13, 1925. Serial No. 6 8,893. Renewed September 1, 1928.

This invention relates to a procws of cracking hydrocarbon oils and particularly to a process of cracking different character hydrocarbon oils as to source and gravity.

This application is a continuation of a former application filed by me, Serial No. 434,189 on December 31st, 1920."

Among the salient objects of the invention are to produce a blended cracked distilled product produced from independently destructively distilled oils, of different Baum gravity and derived from different sources, under independently regulated conditions of temperature and pressure. In then commingling the vapors and subjecting the combined vapors to a condensing action whereby a homogeneous product is derived from a series of radically different raw oils.

The single figure is a perspective view of the apparatus in which 1 represents the furnaces, having burners 2 set therein. Said furnaces having stacks attached thereto (but not shown). 3 indicates the heating coils, composed of a continuous'set of 4-inch diameter pipe, 400 feet long, and each having 200 square feet of heating surface. Coils 3 are connected to expansion chambers 4, com-.

posed of cylindrical shells 8 feet in diameter and 35 feet long. At the other end of these chambers is'att-ached a blending cylindrical shell 5, six feet in diameter and 50 feet long. Expansion chambers 4 are connected with the shell 5 by means of pipes 6, having control valves 7 set the-rein. Expansion chambers 4 have residuum draw-oft pipes 8 with control valves 9, which control the rate of flow of the. residuum from said expansion chambers while under operating conditions. On the top of blending shell 5 is mounted a dephlegmator 10, ten feet in diameter and 40 feet high, having suitable bafiiing material set therein, such as represented by 11. The

vapors traveling thereto are controlled by valve 12. To the upper portion of dephlegmator 10 is connected pipe 12a, having control valve 13 set therein connected with water condenser coil 14 set within box 15 and connected to top of receiver 16 by means of pipe 17 having control valve 18 set therein. The condensed pressure distillate runs into receiver 16, having pipe conis fixed a pressure gauge 22. The uncondensable gas produced in the system and pressure upon the system is controlled by means of valve 23 located in pipe 24 connected with receiver 16.

The reflux condensate fractionated in dephlegmator 10 passes out of the bottom by means of pipe 25, having control valve 26, and into the cracking coil 3, where it is treated under a pressure of 225 lbs. to the square inch and under a transfer liquid temperature of 875 as it passes into expansion chamber 4' by way of control Valve 27. The vapors from the expansion chamber 4 are subjected to a dephlegmator column 28 provided with baflie plate members 29. The uncondensed vapors in dephlegmator column 28 pass out of the dephlegmator by way of pipe 30 having control valve 31 and said pipe 30 is at tached to water condenser 32 set within condenser coil box 33, connected to the top of pressure distillate receiver 34. The pressure distillate may be controlled by valve 35- before passing into receiver 34. In the top of receiver 34 is fixed a pressure gauge 36 and there is also a pressure distillate draw-off pipe 37 controlling the flow from said receiver by means of valve 38. A11 uncondensable gas'pipe 39 attached to receiver 34, also a control valve 40 in said pipe for controlling the pressure upon the cracking system treating the reflux condensate. In dephlegmator 28 the reflux condensate passes out of the bottom of said dephlegmator by meansof pipe 41, commingling therein with the reflux oil from dephlegmator 11. In the reflux condensate pipe 25 is placed a pump 42, which may be used when it is desirous of cracking the reflux condensate at a higher pressure than is maintained in the main cracking system. When the two systems are operating at the same pressure pump 42 is cut out of the system and the oil allowed to flow through the by-pass 43, having a block valve 44 set therein. Pumps 45 are for the purpose of charging coils 3 with the raw oils to be treated.

A typical mode of operation of this process and apparatus is to charge the heating coils 3 by means of pumps 45, using a Kansas 42 Baum kerosene in one coil, a 36 Baum gravity gas oil from Oklahoma in a second, and in a third coil a 26 Baum Texas fuel oil while a 16 Baum California fuel oil was charged in a fourth coil, and in a fifth coil, a 12 Baum gravity, Mexican crude oil was charged. The five heating tubes were charged with the five diflerent character oils above and the furnace fires ignited b means of burners 2. The temperatures of operation in the five heating coils ranged between 760" and 870 F. and an operating pressure upon the expansion chambers up to control valve 7 of 125 to 200 lbs. to the square inch. The distilled products from the expansion chambers 4 were passed into the blending cylindrical shell 5 under an average pressure, exclusive of the dephlegmator and receiver, of 115 lbs. to the square inch. The reflux condensate from dephlegmator 11 was passed into the heating coil 3 and cracked therein at a pressure of 225 lbs. per square inch and a temperature of 860 F. For this purpose, the reflux condensate/from dephlegmator 11 was pumped into said heating coil by means of pump 42. The generated vapors from the expansion chamber 4' were fractionated in dephlegmator 28 and passed into receiver 34 by way of pipe 30 and condensing coil 32. When a differential pressure is desired to be maintained upon the different parts of the apparatus, control valves 12, 13, 18, 31, 35 and 40 may be so operated as to give differences of pressure 'upon the different parts of the apparatus.

I found by my process that I am able to produce a homogeneously blended cracked product, resulting from the cracking of the widely different charging stocks, which, in and of themselves, when cracked and handled singly, produce wild gasoline, similar to very light casing-head gasoline, which is difficult to hold in commercial gasoline. My process avoids the losses due to the production of the very light cracked gasoline, due

' to the homogeneity of my blended cracked gasoline resulting from the process.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A process for simultaneously cracking a plurality of separate oils varying in character, both as to source, and gravity, consisting in simultaneouslypassing said separate oils through independent coils wherein said oils are raised to a cracking temperature, in passing vapors evolved from the separate oils to a common zone wherein they physically commingle, in maintaining a superatmospheric pressure on the oil in each coil, in maintaining a lower superatmospheric pressure in said common zone than is maintained on any coil, in subjecting the vapors issuing from said zone to dephlegmation 1n a smgle dephlegmating zone, in subjecting reflux condensate separated from the vapors in said dephlegmating Zone to further cracking without returning the same to said coils, in condensing the dephlegmated vapors and in collecting the resulting distillate.

2. A continuous process for simultaneously cracking a plurality of separate oils varying in character, both as to source and gravity to produce a common distillate therefrom, consisting in passing the separate oils through independent coils wherein the oils are raised to a cracking temperature, in passing the heated oil from each coil to a separate enlarged zone wherein conversion occurs and from which no unvaporized oil is permitted to return to the associated coil, in passing the evolved vapors from said separate zones to a common vapor zone wherein the vapors from all of said zones physically commingle, in maintaining a superatmospheric pressure in said common zone lower than the superatmospheric pressure maintained on the oil in any one of said coils in taking off vapors from said vapor zone for dephlegmation, condensation and collection, and in re-treating the reflux condensate separated from the vapors, to effect further cracking thereof without returning the same to any of said coils.

3. A continuous process for simultaneously cracking a plurality of separate oils varying in character, both as to source and gravity, consisting in independently heating each oil to a cracking temperature in a heating zone, in passing the highly heated oils to separate reaction zones wherein conversion occurs, in passing the vapors from said reaction zones to a common vapor zone wherein the'vapors evolved from all of said oils physically commingle, in dephlegmating the vapors issuing from said vapor zone, in condensing the dephlegmated vapors, in collecting the resulting distillate in maintaining a superatmospheric self-generated vapor pressure on each of the oils undergoing conversion, and in subjecting the reflux condensate separated from the vapors to further cracking conditions without permitting the same to commingle with any of said separate oils in said heating zone.

4. A process for obtaining a blended cracked distilled product, which consists in independently destructively distilling oils of different gravity from different sources, under independently regulated conditions of temperature and pressure, commingling the vapors therefrom, and then subjecting the combined vapors to a condensing action,

whereby a homogeneous product is derived from a plurality of diiferent oils.

5. A process for obtaining a blended cracked distilled product, which consists in independently destructively distilling oils of different gravity and from different 

